Forget about credit cards, cheques or cash, the future of shopping lies in your finger. US company Indivos has started testing a new shopping system in Seattle where – once you have spent a minute or so enrolling – you can pay for your purchases in a shop by placing your finger on a scanner – no swiping of cards, fumbling with cash or scrambling for a pen at the bottom of the handbag.
The clever part is that the finger readers will eventually be supplied free of charge to shops, and the company will take a cut of all transactions, which should help to speed adoption should the trial prove successful. Indivos claim that the system is super secure and that it is a winner for both the shopper and store, but I can’t help feeling that letting a posse of schoolgirls loose in a mall with just their fingers as ammunition is asking for trouble!